Tuesday, December 05, 2017

A thought on how the Republican Party got to Trumpism

The Morning Joe crew today were shocked, shocked to discover the Republican Party is more concerned about tax cuts for the wealthy than the safety of 14-year-old girls. (I'm officially adopting Charlie Pierce's version of the program's name, the Morning Zoo.) GOP Strategist Susan Del Percio On Roy Moore Support: You Are About To Lose Me MSNBC 12/05/2017



I mean, conversions are fine. But what did they think the Republican Party has been the last 25-30 years?

I remember when the new "Gingrich Revolution" members elected to Congress in 1994 declared junkie bigot Rush Limbaugh an honorary member of Congress for his service in getting a Republican House elected.

Maybe Joe Scarborough, also elected to Congress for the first time that year, missed that shindig. Because you'd think he might have remembered things like this (Katharine Seelye, Republicans Get a Pep Talk From Rush Limbaugh New York Times 12/12/1994):
"You will never ever be their friends," the talk-show host warned most of the 73 Republican freshmen at a dinner here tonight. "They don't want to be your friends. Some female reporter will come up to one of you and start batting her eyes and ask you to go to lunch. And you'll think, 'Wow! I'm only a freshman. Cokie Roberts wants to take me to lunch. I've really made it!' " The audience laughed.

"Seriously," he added. "Don't fall for this. This is not the time to get moderate. This is not the time to start trying to be liked."

The freshman class, which included not a single "femi-Nazi," one of Mr. Limbaugh's favorite epithets for supporters of women's rights, whooped and applauded, proving itself one big fan club of the man it believes was primarily responsible for the Republican avalanche in November. [my emphasis]
Limbaugh reminded the Republicans about how a fine fellow he is:
Mr. Limbaugh said President Clinton's new nominee for surgeon general would be Pee-wee Herman. He also said he had a copy of the White House drug test -- a multiple-choice examination. "Complete the following verse," he read. "I am the walrus. A: You are the taxman. B: La la la la la la. C: Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? D. Koo-koo-ka-choo."

In closing, he asked his audience to "leave some liberals alive" as artifacts so that "we can show our children what they were." [my emphasis]
Pee-Wee Herman was the comic persona of Paul Rubens, who was arrested in 1991 for public exposure when he was caught masturbating in a porno theater. (Mark Harris and Ty Burr, The Pee-Wee Herman scandal EW 08/16/1991)

Rush Limbaugh's commitment to "traditional values" also came into question later when he got into trouble because of his oxycontin habit. (Jarrett Murphy, Rush Limbaugh Arrested On Drug Charges CBS/AP 04/02/2006) That same year, he also got some bad publicity over some mis-labeled Viagra pills found in his possession on a trip to the Dominican Republic. (Rush Limbaugh's Dominican Stag Party The Smoking Gun 07/06/2006) Some Mean Libruls called attention to the Dominican Republic's reputation at the time as a sex tourism destination. (Evan Derkacz, Rush Limbaugh, sex tourist? AlterNet 06/27/2006) Bad libruls, bad!

As for that bit about leaving "some liberals alive," why, that was just a joke, doncha know? Lighten up, libruls!!

As the Times reported, the newly-elected Republican Congress members "whooped and applauded" for the tasteful comedian. And his bloviating raving against Mean Libruls is still popular among Republicans today.

Golly gee, how could a nice moderate party of honorable gentlemen (and the occasional lady like Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin) have morphed suddenly (?!) into the part of Donald Trump and Roy Moore? The Morning Zoo crowd are very distressed trying to understand the deep mystery.

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